Happy Pana Sankranti with chatua

Also celebrated as the Odiya New Year! Happy Odiya Nua Barsa!
We celebrate all our festivals with food - of course. Usually it is very hot in Odisha by this time and we offer panna (a special drink) as offering to God. I had made fruity pana a few years back and I have also posted  mango pana. The pana that is most popular in Odisha for panna sankranti is bela pana. All these drinks help in cooling the body!


My mother in law offers chatua as offering to god on Pana Sankranti along with the Watermelon Pana. Chatua is a very healthy mixture of whole grains, pulses and nuts. The whole grains are dry roasted in low fire and so are the pulses and nuts. Then the mixture is sent over to the local neighborhood mill for grinding. It is mixed with milk and banana and gur (jaggery)  and served to god. Then you can add additional fruits and enjoy. The left over mixture of chatua powder can be stored in an air tight container and eaten for breakfast.

Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat grains
1/2 cup channa dal or bengal grams
1/2 cup Barley or Jowar seeds (I didn't have it, so I didn't use it)
handful of peanuts
1/2 handful of cashews (use any nuts of your choice)
1/4 cup of gur (Jaggery)
1  banana
2-3 cups of milk (add more if you want a thinner consistency)
fruits of your choice (I used apple, orange and cucumber)
fresh coconut flakes (optional)

How To

Dry roast the wheat grains, bengal gram one by one. Do the same for the nuts. Easier to dry roast them separately so that you don't burn anything.
Once the nuts and pulses and grains cool, grind them in your grinder of your choice. I used my coffee/spice grinder and did them in small batches.The chatua powder is ready.
Mix the chatua powder with milk and mashed bananas and jaggery.
Add fruits and coconut flakes as per taste and enjoy.

Additionally I saw  in the news that chatua powder is being offered as a cheap and healthy supplement for pregnant and lactating mothers in Odisha.